


Holding His Heart

by insanity_and_co



Category: The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: F/M, New Quest, Original Female Character - Freeform, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-31
Updated: 2014-05-31
Packaged: 2018-01-27 19:50:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1720505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insanity_and_co/pseuds/insanity_and_co
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Gods receive their powers, Anders notices that something is missing—his powers aren't returned to him. The Oracles believe part of his powers were given to his other half; a woman who would hold Bragi's heart. Anders understands one nights stands, but love isn't his thing and he's completely out of his comfort zone when his One turns out to be a nerdy young girl, Penelope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meet Penny, Bragi's "One"

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for checking this out! Any and all comments are loved and appreciated, and I hope you all enjoy.

Twenty more minutes.

Twenty more minutes and I can close the store and go home and _sleep_. I had been tired since the start of my shift, and restocking shelves and tidying a small movie store wasn't exactly _enticing_ work. I did get to look at the new movies that had just come in, but it would be a while before we had enough in stock so I could take a few home and watch them, so they were only interesting for so long.

Towards the end of the Friday night shift – as per usual – we would get a small rush of customers, so I was content to stand at the counter and make small talk with a few of the regulars.

"I'm Axl," a boy blurt out, awkwardly turning to look at the customer behind him. He isn't a usual, but he was rather chatty and I suppose I did work in customer service, so I smile back.

"Hello Axl," I respond, scanning the movies on the counter and waiting for the horribly slow computer to churn out a total for him.

"What's your name?"

"I'm sort of wearing a name tag," I answer, pointing to my pocket which – low and behold – held my name.

"Oh, right. Haha, didn't really see that...Penny."

"That's my name."

"It's a nice name."

"Thank you, I didn't really pick it out though. I'll pass the compliments onto my parents."

"Yeah, right, right. How much'll it be?"

"Dunno yet, sorry." I slap the side of the monitor and for just a moment the screen when static. The picture returns a second later, little box labeled _Total_ still loading. "This thing is ridiculously slow."

"Oh, no problem. I'm meeting someone later to watch these, so I'm not in a hurry or anything."

"Friday night date night?" I ask, smile falling abruptly when he nods. "Uh...look. No offense, but no chick's going to want to watch old war documentaries on a Friday night. Unless she's really into that kind of thing," I say, quickly backtracking because he looked either very confused or offended.

"Old war..." Axl cranes his neck to read the titles of the movies. "...documentaries." I raise my eyebrows and wait; did he not even look at what he was picking up off the shelf? "Maybe I should pick something else."

"Yeah, that might be a good idea." I try not to sound too irritated, but now I had to wait for the stupid computer to load the total, void it, and then start all over again. The customer behind him is already peeved at the wait, and I'm not exactly the epitome of patience when I'm tired.

"Any suggestions?"

"Try something down there," I say, pointing down the aisle. "Romantic comedies are a better idea than documentaries. Nothing about friends with benefits, though."

"Yeah, thanks."

"Can you just ring me up?" The man behind Axl steps up, combing his fingers through his beard and nearly slamming his movie down on the counter. "I'm kind of in a hurry."

"Yeah, sure. Membership card, please." He fishes the card out of his pocket and I scan it into the computer, a loud beep making me jump – it does that _every_ time – and he impatiently raises his eyebrows. It feels like we go through this every Friday night, probably because we _do_. "Well, Mr. Lan, it looks like you've got seven overdue movies. I do believe that's a record this time."

"Well can I get this one?" He slid another over the counter to me – another horror movie. Judging by the titles of the overdue ones he was a huge fan.

"Not until you return the other seven or pay for them."

"Isn't there some policy?"

"Some policy?"

"Yeah, about renting movies out without having to go through silly memberships." He smiles, dropping the pissy look for just a moment and I sigh.

"No, there's no policy about that. Look-" I smile and wait until Mr. Lan is looking at me again, "-it would really make my day a whole lot easier if you would return those movies," I say, my voice slow and even. For just a moment the man's eyelids droop and he looks relaxed, he even faintly smiles. It fades seconds later, and once again he looks pissed off – though a red tinge creeps up from his beard.

"I lost them."

"Then you'll have to pay for them."

"Right." Mr. Lan turns slowly, leaving the movie on the counter and the door dings when he leaves.

"So you use your powers to get people to return their overdue movies?" Axl steps back up to the counter and places two more movies down. I slide Mr. Lan's into a bin to be restocked and scan Axl's card again.

"My powers?" I scan his new movies and wait for a total. Much better choices this time.

"Yeah, you know...the powers," Axl whispers, leaning over the counter. There were no other customers in the store...so why was he whispering? _Ahh, Friday night,_ I thought to myself, _probably already drunk._

"I don't have any powers," I whisper back.

"What do you mean? I just saw you use them, you know, the way you talked to that guy." Axl turns just in time to see Mr. Lan's car pull out of the parking lot.

"Talking to people? That's my special power?"

"Not just talk. You know, _talk_."

"Right," I say slowly, sliding his movies across the counter to him. "Your total." I turn the small screen towards Axl and he fishes some change out of his pocket.

"Your powers won't work on me," he says with a grin, handing me the money. It took a moment to sort all the small change he had given me.

"Is that right?" I murmur, not in the mood to encourage the rantings of a drunk man...even if he could compose himself enough to pass as sober. Only a ten more minutes until I could close.

"Yeah, you know, cause I'm a God too."

"You're a God?" I ask, taking my eyes off the till for a moment to look at him.

_Eyes aren't red, so he isn't stoned. Drunk it is._

"Yeah."

"I think you're off your medication," I say, giving him his change. "Here's your movie."

He takes them and it almost sounds like he says something else, but when I look up he's already leaving, the ding echoing around the empty store. He stands outside for a moment, taking out a phone and I go up to the front door and turn the _Open_ sign to _Closed_.

_A few minutes early won't make much of a difference,_ I think to myself.

He looks back into the store, talking to someone frantically but I couldn't hear anything through the glass, so I turn to finish closing the store.

* * *

"What do you mean you found her?" Ty shoots up from the couch and walks into the kitchen, phone to his ear and leaving Anders in the living room.

"Who found who?"

"Who do you think? Axl found your One," Ty says, shushing Anders. "Say that again? Her name's Phranny?"

"Oh no, I'm going to need a drink for this," Anders says, quickly going to the kitchen and he rummages through the cupboard and pulls out a shot glass.

"Oh, Penny."

Anders thinks for a moment before shrugging and leaving the shot glass on the counter. "Cute name, how'd she look?"

"Works at the movie store a mile over," Ty says, putting his hand over the phone. "And would you _shut up_?"

"No! Axl found her and I want to get a good image of her."

"She's short, dark hair, younger," Ty says, parroting what Axl is telling him.

"Good," Anders says with a sigh of relief. "Wait, how young? She's not like...a teenager, is she?"

"He doesn't know." Ty turns his back on Anders again to listen to Axl. "Okay, see you in five."

"Please tell me he got pictures."

"No he didn't get pictures," Ty says, sounding disgusted and pushing Anders away again.

"Come on, you've got to give me more than 'young', 'short', 'dark hair' and a name. I want to know what I'm getting into here."

"And you will, when Axl gets here."


	2. Mush, Ullr! To Penny!

"Short, dark hair, younger – but the almighty Odin doesn't know _how young."_ Anders sighs and throws his head back, sending Axl a glare over the back of the couch. "Not much to go on, is it?"

"I'm bad with guessing ages, lay off," Axl whines, spinning the bar stool he was sitting on and stopping when a loud squeak rings through Anders' apartment.

"But, she _is_ the One?" Mike asks, accepting a beer as Olaf - who promptly ignored Anders' protests – passes the beers he found in the fridge around the room.

"I think so," Axl says, his voice smaller now that all of his brothers and grandfather were staring at him expectantly.

"What makes you think so?" Olaf asks after a long sip, smacking his lips.

"I saw her do the talking thing," Axl says, looking around the apartment over the rim of his beer.

"How do you know she's not just charismatic?" Olaf asks.

"She's a little geeky...aren't they supposed to be all awkward around people and shit? And by the way, she did the thing! Like Anders does. She talked to this guy and his eyes got all droopy and he smiled. Whatever she said, he looked like he was under a spell."

"And she uses it to get people to pay for their overdue movies. What a waste," Anders says quietly with a tsk, drifting off for a moment until Mike snapped his fingers in front of him.

"Is she a mortal?"

"I don't know. How would I know?" Axl says, quickly becoming defensive over the interrogation. He sips at his beer and glances around the apartment. "Did you do something with your place? New cactus! That's it!"

"You're shit at changing topics," Anders shoots at Axl as he quickly crosses the room to inspect a new cactus plant added to the collection on the shelves. Anders rolls his eyes when Axl raises his shoulders and widens his eyes – the complete image of innocence – and Anders' flips around on the couch, a witty (and likely low) shot on the tip of his tongue.

"Well, usually you can tell with that sort of thing," Mike says, quickly intervening on a spat waiting to happen between the two brothers.

Olaf sets his beer down on the coffee table with a loud smack. "Like with Eva, you just knew she was a Goddess."

"Yeah, got that one wrong, though," Anders mutters with a huff, shrugging off the _shut up Anders_ look Mike sent him.

"Shut up!" Axl seems to voice everyone's opinion with that. "I didn't feel like I did with Eva, but what she did, that was not normal mortal stuff. That was God business. Or... _Goddess_ business, I guess," Axl says, nose scrunching up as he added the last bit.

"Or she's too young to know she's a Goddess yet," Olaf adds.

"Is she that young?" Anders hisses, turning sharply to Axl and sounding more desperate than any of them had heard him in a long time.

"Love knows no bounds, and age is merely a number. I'm 93 for crying out loud," Olaf says, interrupting Axl who takes a long moment to sip (chug) his beer.

"Grandpa, please," Anders says, throwing a hand out to shush him.

"I dunno, probably," Axl said sheepishly after the beer was gone, flinching away even before Anders leaped off the couch at him.

"' _Probably_ '?Jesus Christ, Axl! _Th_ _at_ is something you should have told me!" Anders screams out, shoving his brother's shoulder and pacing around the back of the couch. "I need another beer. I don't want to be a sober cradle robber!"

"You won't be doing _any_ robbing-" Mike starts, shouting over the sound of Anders rummaging through the fridge.

" _Thank you!_ " Olaf breaths out.

"-until we check this girl out," he finishes, earning a defeated sigh from Olaf and a whooping approval from Anders...who pauses only to chug his can of beer in one go.

"Let's hunt her down, Mike," Anders says eagerly, tossing the can and grabbing his jacket off the back of the couch. "I'm not going to be able to sleep at night until I meet her and get my powers back."

"I'm not a dog, you could say _please,"_ Mike says, watching with a raised eyebrow as Anders stops abruptly, jacket over one shoulder.

"You don't want to _meet her_ ," Olaf says, giving Anders a rude look over his own beer. "You want to see if she's a ten."

"Grandpa, I'm insulted," Anders says, hopping on one foot to tie a shoelace. "A seven or eight would be fine. Geeky...I think I can work with that. Hot librarian geeky? No time! Mush, Ullr! To Penny!" Anders yells, nearly shoving Mike off the couch and throwing his jacket fully-on. "Come on!"

"If only you were this enthusiastic in finding Frigg!" Axl shouts from the kitchen, sighing when Olaf and Mike slowly follow Anders. He chugs the rest of his beer, slams it on the counter, and follows his brothers out of the apartment.

"Today would be nice!" Anders' voice drifts up from the driveway, but Axl keeps a slow pace out to the car.

* * *

"This feels like stalking," Axl says, shifting uncomfortably in the backseat of Anders' car. His knees were pressing awkwardly into the driver's seat ever since they got near the video store and Anders insisted they all "stay low".

"That's because it _is_ stalking," Anders whispers, sinking into his seat as they creep along the street at a crawl.

"Well at least none of us have any illusions about it," Olaf hisses back.

"So if we do find her-"

" _When_ we do find her, Mike, don't sell yourself short," Anders cuts in.

"-what's your plan?" Mike finishes.

"Wasn't aware I needed a plan," Anders says with a shrug, turning down a smaller street. "Is that the place?"

"That's the one," Axl answers, pointing to a small video store squished between an auto store and a printing store. "So what now?"

"Can you find her from here?" Anders asks eagerly, finding a nearby parking spot where the video store was just barely in sight.

"I can find where she went after work but it's getting late." Mike looks around the dark street and everyone sinks further into their seats when a man on a bike flies past the drivers side.

"What, you need your beauty sleep?" Anders asks with a scoff and Mike swats his head.

"She's probably _home_ , Anders. Sleeping. I can't imagine she'd want four men knocking on her door late at night." Olaf's voice of reason makes the three other men pause for just a moment until they finally agree.

"Alright, fine. So we find where she lives then." Anders nods and turns to Mike with an expectant stare. "Let's go, come on, boy."

"Shut up," Mike growls.

"This is _definitely_ stalking," Axl grumbles with a sigh.

"Hey, if you've got a problem with this you can get out right now," Anders says, pointing a threatening finger back to where Axl is slouched in the backseat.

"Fine, let's get this over with, Mike," Axl says, crossing his arms.

"Drive that way." Mike points down the street past the video store and Anders starts the car up, everyone peaking up over the bottom of the windows as they creep along the street at a snails-pace.


End file.
